I requested this book because I love this author and also because the Alaskan storyline really appealed to me. While reading The Simple Wild, it was very obvious that K.A. did her research!

The Alaskan setting is the star of this book. I can't recall if I've ever read a book where Alaska was the main setting. But it was such a key and important part of this story. I really enjoyed how Alaska was such an important/amazing part of this book. The setting was like nothing I have ever experienced. And the people were so different and amazing, especially Mabel and Agnes. The setting was so unique. And I really enjoyed the airplane/pilots aspect of the story.

I can't wait to share this book with readers. This story was just so unique and different.

I think the Texas heat has made my obsession with Alaska come to a head this summer. I have been religiously watching Alaska State Troopers and have been eager to read or watch anything Alaskan-related lately. Thanks to Atria Publishing, my obsession was able to continue when I received the ARC of The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker through Netgalley. This book has been one of my most anticipated reads for the year and did not disappoint.

Though this story neatly fits into the Contemporary Romance category, it is so much more! Calla Fletcher, though born in the rugged state of Alaska, grew up as a Toronto city-girl. When her mother couldn't tough out the harsh life Alaska is known for, despite the love she felt for Wren Fletcher, she fled back to the life she knew with their daughter Calla in tow, resulting in Calla's extended estrangement from her father. Out of the blue more than twenty years later, Calla receives a phone call informing her of her father's cancer. Out of curiosity more than anything, the city gal decides to take her chances in the wild world of Alaska, hoping to reconnect with her father. However, when she gets there, she meets setback after setback, the majority being at the hands of the callous Jonah. The bush pilot who happens to be Wren Fletcher's right-hand man... and the man Calla loves to hate.

The writing grabbed my attention from the get-go and I was eager to see how things would go for Calla when she made it to Alaska. If anyone has ever seemed unfit for the landscape, it was her! There was not a rugged bone in her body, despite her Alaskan birthright. When she made it to her destination, I couldn't help but feel annoyed with her bratty attitude about the state. At one point, I was so fed up with her rude statements that seemed to make fun of Alaskans, I was sure I wouldn't like the book if she continued on in the same way. Thankfully, my eagerness to see how Jonah would challenge the "Barbie" made me stick with the story. Jonah was set on making Calla's time in Alaska a living hell, and he certainly met the challenge. He was a complete jerk from the start!

As the story went on, Calla and Jonah showed immense growth and made me love them in their own unique ways. K.A. Tucker does a phenomenal job of making these characters feel like living, breathing humans. I have never experienced such a dramatic shift in my opinions about characters in a book before. I liked Calla, didn't like her, then loved her. I disliked Jonah, then end up loving him more than almost any male character I've read before. He is topping my list of book boyfriends, right behind Jamie Fraser, y'all! My favorite thing about Jonah was what I hated about him in the beginning, much like Calla did herself - his wonky sense of humor. I also loved that an author finally wrote a manly-man into existence. Jonah is absolutely my type of guy, but these men are so rarely written, in exchange for the suits, the billionaires, the tattooed, or the rockstars. This "sky cowboy" was everything I didn't know I needed in a male lead with his hardworking attributes and rough around the edges exterior.

I'm still shocked about my shift in opinion about this story and decided to bump it up from four stars to five for this amazing enemies-to-lovers tale with so much heart, fun, and growth. I teared up at the end, felt all the things I hoped I would, and could imagine I was a part of the story myself. I couldn't ask for more from a book! In fact, I loved The Simple Wild so much, I know I will revisit it again in the future for a re-read. I didn't want to let these characters go, and I'm sure you won't either.

I can't recommend K.A. Tucker's upcoming release enough! Pre-order this beauty now or purchase your copy on August 7th.

I really like this book. The descriptions of Alaska are wonderful and makes me very curious about living there. The story was also a good one.

K.A. Tucker has written a superb story with undeniable characters. I devoured this book and loved every second of it. This is a must read for all romance readers and fans of Tuckers!

City girl, Calla, travels to VERY rural Alaska to visit her estranged father, who was just diagnosed with lung cancer. Her mother warns her not to fall for any "sky cowboys" foreshadowing what is to come. Calla goes through all of the emotions of a new place and her estranged father and learns what love really is and the struggles her own mother went through trying to love a person when you don't love the land they call home. Recommended to anyone who loves a feel-good love story.

The Simple Wild is a beautifully written, contemporary romance novel written by best-selling author, K.A. Tucker. It is mainly set in the fictional town of Bangor, Alaska but also partially sets in Toronto, Canada (YAY!).

The story begins with Calla Fletcher, a 26 year old girl living the typical city girl lifestyle in the big city of Toronto. She lives in a nice area with her mom and step-dad and has lived a rather comfortable lifestyle the majority of her life. Many things happen at once in her life and the opportunity to visit her biological father, who she hasn’t seen in 12 years, arises…so she takes it and heads to Bangor Alaska.

I really liked Calla’s character, although in the beginning she did come off as a little superficial, but still a likable character. Her visit to Alaska truly changes her view on life and builds back up that relationship with her father that she hasn’t had in a very long time.

I loved the slow building romance between her and Jonah, the hot, rugged pilot 😉 . Jonah is just…seriously perfect…swoooooon. He doesn’t believe that she can handle this type of lifestyle and tries everything to drive her to fly back to her perfect city life. Yes, he acts like a complete ass in the beginning, but he definitely makes up for it after.

There are a lot of different aspects to this book. Of course there is romance! But I loved the fact that Tucker delved deep in real family dynamics. Calla’s relationship with her father had been non-existent for years and finally seeing him after all these years allowed her to rebuild that connection with him and helped her realize that a lot of the things she thought about him were really just misunderstandings.

I loved Alaska! I haven’t read a book based in Alaska, so this was something new. The people of this town were caring people who made do with what they had. It was such a drastic difference to where Calla came from, and it was certainly an adjustment for Calla as it was far from what she was used to.

The last little bit of this book brought on so much emotion and tears. I imagined myself in Calla’s position and it was absolutely heartbreaking. I love the way the author went with this story line, it was natural and all so real.

The absolute ending made me smile so hard! It was PERFECT. That is all I will say 😉

I’m already thinking about re-reading this one

I'm not going to lie: The Simple Wild completely took me by surprise and hit me right in the feels! I laughed and I cried and I loved every minute of it!

Sped through this one as I do all KA Tucker books and immediately kicked myself for not savoring it. Jonah is one of my favorite male protagonists in a loooong time - if you are a fan of KA Tuckers other books, a slow burn romance and an overall great read, this one is for you.

This book had me in a giant bag of balled up, emotional messiness. Completely shook. Yes, honestly, I was a crybaby mess by the time I was at the end. And I ended up staying up way later after I finished it, contemplating reading it again. Hoping to experience a smidge of all those feelings once more.

At the start I couldn’t understand why Calla didn’t go off on Jonah every time he made some mean spirited remark, which started from the moment they met. I couldn’t fathom why she would stick around when it seemed like her dad didn’t want to put the effort into actually spending time with her, getting to know her.

But then the jabs that Calla and Jonah slung back and forth soon started being a bit more fun and not so hateful. Flirting even? The moments her father shared with her soon became softer and more comfortable. And I realized I was happy that she didn't run home when she first arrived never knowing this new world. A world she missed out on since she was nearly 2.

Then there was the last 20% of the book where I was in a perpetual state of ugly cries. My heart couldn't take it. My mind raced back to the hurt I experienced when my own father. My feelings mirrored those that Calla felt. It was all so bittersweet.

At first I was wanting more than that ending but quickly realized it was actually pretty perfect the longer I sat there and pondered on it. Tucker gave a darn good story, quite possibly her best story yet. And I got to say, I loved every ounce of it. It was exceptional. It was heart wrenching. It was beautiful. My heart will forever think back on it and the wide array of emotions I experienced while reading it. Definitely a re-read worthy story. 5 Wild and Risky Stars!

I was given an advanced copy from the publisher for an honest review.

I have never read anything by K.A. Tucker before this book and I have to say, this one makes me want to read everything she's written. I absolutely loved, loved this book!

Tucker is an amazing writer. Everything flows well, nothing is choppy, and her dialogue is fantastic. Her characters are very well rounded, well thought out, and very dynamic.

At first, and for probably the first 50% of the book, Calla was annoying. She was an entitled, materialistic, brat, BUT she was also a good person despite all of that. Jonah calling her out on it made my day. She slowly started letting go of that side of herself, but I also like that it never completely went away. I liked her growth throughout the entire book, actually. The friendships and relationships she developed and the way she grew as a person were very organic.

Jonah was awesome. I loved his take-no-prisoners and kind of in your face attitude. He didn't hold back even when he probably should and he had a heart of gold. Everyone should have a Jonah in their lives. I liked that he brought the best out in Calla.

Wren, Agnes, and Mabel were all wonderful secondary characters. Simon may have been my favorite secondary character, though. He really made Calla see things from a different perspective and really helped her work through her issues.

Overall, this book is just fantastic and I highly recommend it. It's pretty emotional towards the end, but not sob into your book emotional. More like quiet tears down your face emotional. Pick it up ASAP, you won't regret it.

I absolutely adored this book. Every single word of this book blew me away. It was such an unique and beautiful read that I never wanted to end.

4.5/5 stars

I went into this book completely blind except for knowing that Alaska played a part in the story. Wow, the last 100 pages blew my mind. This book was so much more emotional than I was expecting. I am happy to say that this book made me feel so much!

The Simple Wild is a contemporary romance. Although I would say that there is so much more to the story than just the romance. The narrator is 26 year old Calla Fletcher. The book takes place in both Toronto and rural Alaska.

I am a big KA Tucker fan. So I absolutely could not wait to read this book. I have a huge TBR pile and only very few books get read as soon as I get them. But this was one of them. I also love that the cover model for this book is another favorite author, Renée Carlino.

There are a bunch of aspects of this book that I think are note worthy: 1. Alaskan setting, 2. the relationship with her dad, 3. Calla herself, 4. the romance, 5. the supporting characters.

The Alaskan setting is the star of this book. I can't recall if I've ever read a book where Alaska was the main setting. But it was such a key and important part of this story. I really enjoyed how Alaska was such an important/amazing part of this book. The setting was like nothing I have ever experienced. And the people were so different and amazing, especially Mabel and Agnes. The setting was so unique. And I really enjoyed the airplane/pilots aspect of the story.

The relationship with her dad was really compelling. I thought that her trying to reconnect with her dad was such a key and amazing part of this story. It definitely added so much to this book.

Calla was an interesting narrator. Truthfully at the start of the book she was not the most likable narrator. She was nice enough. She definitely wasn't horrible. But she seemed a bit bratty and materialistic. Buying all kinds of fancy clothes, wearing fancy shoes, and needing tons of make-up seemed so snobby. But she definitely grew on me.

Okay so I am going to put this out there: I did not really like Jonah at the start. It's not that Jonah was a bad guy. But the idea of Calla falling for him did not really make sense to me. For the first half of the book I was not really ecstatic with the romance aspect of the story. I was not really invested in the romance. I was hoping that the author could change my opinion. And she really did.

There were some really amazing supporting characters in this book. I really liked Calla's mom. But I was completely in love with her stepfather Simon. I loved that he was British and that he was a shrink. Him giving Calla advice was such a great part of this book.

The second half of the book was so good. The end was strong. And honestly for the last 100 pages I could not put the book down.

I tend to love books that are emotional or that make me feel. And honestly I was not expecting this book to be as emotional as it was. And I was not expecting to feel as much as I did. There was one thing that happened at 95% that made me feel so much. I could hardly stand it.

I was so curious how this book would end. What would happen with her dad? What would happen with the romance? I was trying to figure out in my head what would be a satisfying ending. And I had trouble wrapping my head around anything that would make sense. But I think that the author did a good job.

First half of the book was 4 stars. Second half of the book was 5 stars. However, to me the end is everything. And overall, the last 100 pages were so good, and made me feel so much. I really loved this story!